UPDATED: Planet Xbox 360 just pointed us to their screenshot, and it's convincing. (Above).

Ever want to roundhouse punch EA Sports honcho/former Xbox chief Peter Moore in the jaw? Astoundingly, word is you can do just that in Face Breaker, coming out Sept. 5. ButtonMasher reports thusly:

While previewing Face Breaker at the EA booth it was mentioned that Peter Moore’s face had been scanned and entered into the game using the boxer editor. The face, which is creepily accurate, can be attached to any of the bodies and manipulated. Peter asserts that he suits a more chiseled look but the demonstration featured him as a blue monkey.

From talking with them more about the addition to the game it seems that his face will be included in the retail build of the game and will more than likely be an unlockable character.

That's a pretty shrewd move. Not sure how many sales it will do on that feature alone, but I'll put it in my GameFly queue.

Here's what the rest of the game will look like, btw.

Break Peter Moore's Face [Button Masher, thanks reader Paul K.]

Screenshot of Peter Moore in Face Breaker [Planet Xbox 360]

[Because the comments before the update might seem confusing out of context, here's the original shitty shoop I did to illustrate this - OSG]

It really came home for me when we were in Munich for our global marketing meeting and we took over the Hard Rock Café for the night and had a Rock Band competition... There were a hundred of us and it was like a real rock concert. It was a blast. I stood back and I thought that this was an incredible cultural phenomenon... The crowd were going wild, but all we were doing was playing on toy guitars, toy drums and singing badly into a microphone. Now the beer might have had something to do with it, I don’t know, but it was a great social thing. And I said, ‘Boy, this product is going to change the way we think about games.’

Boy was he right! Rock Band also changed the ways game execs can embarrass themselves at E3 press conferences.

Peter Moore Interview [CVG via videogaming247] [Pic]

EA Sports head Peter Moore is not a man to mince words. That's why we loved him so when he was at Microsoft, he cuts through the BS and gets straight to the point.

In a recent post on his blog over at It's In The Game, Moore talked up his new studio alluding that EA Sports is primed to have one of the best years in its history. In particular Moore sings the praises of NASCAR, NBA LIVE, Madden and NCAA Football. He's so sure that this season is going to be unrivaled, in fact, that he's promising to get a new tattoo if they don't deliver.

Big talk Moore, but lets put a little reality into this pie-in-the-sky promise. Why not say that if you don't have an overall Metacritic increase (yes I hate review scores) on all four of those games you've failed to deliver and it's time to ink up? We've even found this swell logo for your possible future use. Let us know.

Not Resting on our Laurels [Peter Moore's Official Blog]

We’re never satisfied. There’s always more we can do. It’s what we love about our business. I hate to sound like a cheerleader, but the facts are the facts. And I don’t expect them to change any time soon. We’re hitting this season in terms of quality and innovation stronger than we ever have at EA SPORTS. If I’m wrong, you’ll see me sporting a new tattoo - maybe a competitor’s logo?

No, no more tattoos. Please, Peter. Elsewhere in his corporate locker room peptalk, Moore talks about the bright future FIFA and NHL have and hints at a new "groundbreaking feature" for NBA LIVE to be announced at E3.

Not Resting [Peter Moore Blog via videogaming247]

Moore was quick to point out that it wasn't Electronic Arts that asked for the exclusive deal, but rather the NFL which was seeking a single licensee. He said that EA feels that licensing remains an important part of adding realism to their sports titles and that he can't imagine a time when they wouldn't seek them.

Specifically, the weakness that EA faces when trying to deliver the same experience to the flood of new gamers brought into the fold by Nintendo's casual-centric Wii.

Moore said after speaking with focus groups who called their Wii sports titles a "joke" or the outcome of "spoiling a good game", they realized their approach to the Wii had to change.

"We weren't delivering the experience," he said. "We have to make it a little more approachable to allow them to get in early and quickly.

"We can't port content down to the Wii, we need to start building for the Wii from the ground up, that's what we are doing this year."

Specifically, they are doing that with their new All-Play brand which will bring Tiger Woods, NCAA, FIFA, NBA and Madden all to the Wii in versions built specifically for the console. Instead of trying to describe how that will be different, Moore booted up a Wii debug unit to show off how the alpha version of All-Play Madden will look and feel.

The idea with the All-Play games is to take a familiar brand, like Madden and make them "fun, stimulating, easy" Moore said, pointing out how All-Play Madden doesn't have "graphic intensity" but does give gamers a simple experience.

On first blush, the most noticeable change to the fabled franchise was the user interface. Cutting down on the slew of information-heavy, packed menus, the All-Star menu during play offered just three choices: Top picks, Madden's pick (which included a picture of Madden Mii) and all plays. Selecting one of the large buttons bring up a couple of options which can be quickly scrolled through.

It appeared that during Moore's time playing defense for us he controlled his player with the nunchuk's thumbstick and swatted the remote to play defense, either knocking the ball out of the air or tackling.

"There are no timeouts, no huddles, not a lot of penalties or interference plays," he said.

Next Moore showed us Five-On-Five mode which cuts down on the number of players on the field and features big-head players. Pausing the game while playing offense, Moore outlined the course a receiver was going to take in real-time by pointing to the field with his remote and clicking on a button. Each click created a waypoint. On several plays Moore used two or three waypoints when creating his play on the fly. After starting the game back up, the player ran his play.

"The idea is to make games a little more simple," he said.

Something, that from our brief time watching the game, Electronic Arts appears to have done.

Moore said EA plans to also market their All-Play titles differently, using less intense box art and different commercials.

When asked, Moore said that just because All-Play is meant to be an easier experience, it doesn't mean that the game can't still innovate.

"Innovation could come through more intuitive use of the Wii remote," he said, theorizing: "Can i get the Wii remote in 2010 to feel speed and have the ball react to it? That's just blue sky stuff, but that's some of the things you might see."

"We are still looking at ways we can replicate the experience without it being too difficult."

EA Sports' Peter Moore [Gamesindustry.biz]

Yeah, I just wish it [Home] would ship. I [previously] questioned it a little bit, whether I'd want to wander around there. Phil Harrison showed me a demo — it's very cool, but let's go already. And so I'm disappointed that it's been pushed back a little bit again. But I really hope it gets going and becomes that portal to the PlayStation Network and we can utilise it. But boy, I just wish we'd get going.

We're watching very closely what the Wii Fit board does. We think we have to have a role to play with that mum - the kids have gone to school, she's got 45 minutes on her own, the Wii is there, it's the first console she's ever liked because she can do things herself. And we're working on stuff, trying to work out how we can use EA Sports applications there.

EA making Wii fitness game [Eurogamer]

It's like how swimming pools have a deep end and a shallow end. EA Sports has really only built a swimming pool with a deep end. It's intimidating for a lot of people to jump right in the deep end. With All-Play, we're building a shallow end.

We learned some hard lessons. That was the type of sports experience they were looking for and we saw that and decided we needed to redefine what our sports games were about.

Freestyle is pitched as a more casual, more inclusive, pick up and play brand, one that Peter Moore says is "an easier entry point into EA Sports." Brilliant! Look at Peter shakin' things up!

The first title to fall under the EA Sports Freestyle sub-brand will be Facebreaker, EA's take on Punch-Out!! and Ready 2 Rumble. Two more titles are planned as Freestyle releases in the next year. Press release proof is right after this.

EA Unveils New 'EA SPORTS Freestyle' Sub-Brand

EA SPORTS Freestyle to Represent the Lighter Side of Sports: No Rules, Just Fun.

REDWOOD CITY, Calif.—(BUSINESS WIRE)—Electronic Arts Inc. (Nasdaq:ERTS) today launched EA SPORTS Freestyle™, a new sub-brand aimed at a growing, more casual sports gaming audience. EA SPORTS Freestyle games, while based in sports, will be playful, inclusive, casual, and easy to pick up and play for kids and parents, women and men, and casual and hardcore sports fans of all ages.

"The launch of EA SPORTS Freestyle is an exciting milestone in the evolution of the EA SPORTS brand," said Peter Moore, president, EA SPORTS. "EA SPORTS Freestyle will be a perfect complement to our core portfolio of games that our loyal fans are deeply passionate about, and will provide compelling opportunities for new audiences looking for a lighter gaming experience and an easier entry point into EA SPORTS."

EA SPORTS Freestyle will be the home for innovative new intellectual properties from the EA SPORTS label, including three new games in development and slated for release in the next 12 months. The first title to launch under the new sub-brand will be FaceBreaker™, an arcade-style boxing title set for release in September 2008 and the first new console IP from EA SPORTS since 2002.

EA SPORTS™ is the leading interactive sports software brand in the world, with top-selling titles and franchises including Madden NFL Football, FIFA Soccer, NHL® hockey, NBA LIVE basketball, NCAA® Football, Tiger Woods PGA TOUR® and NASCAR® racing.

Media can find the new EA SPORTS Freestyle logo and the latest screenshots from FaceBreaker™ at info.ea.com.

About Electronic Arts

Electronic Arts Inc. (EA), headquartered in Redwood City, California, is the world's leading interactive entertainment software company. Founded in 1982, the company develops, publishes, and distributes interactive software worldwide for video game systems, personal computers, cellular handsets and the Internet. Electronic Arts markets its products under four brand names: EA SPORTS™, EA™, EA SPORTS Freestyle™ and POGO™. In fiscal 2007, EA posted revenue of $3.09 billion and had 24 titles that sold more than one million copies. EA's homepage and online game site is www.ea.com. More information about EA's products and full text of press releases can be found on the Internet at http://info.ea.com.

Piracy's a big issue on the PC. I can't turn a blind eye to the fact that it's very difficult for us...and we lose money making a game. At some point, I have an obligation not to bring out products that lose money.

When I first came on, my concerns were the "American-ness" of the brand. Powerful brand, strong voice, red, white, and blue, out of California, an American voice: Andrew Anthony, you know, 'It's in the game.'

You love it because it's very clear what it's about. It's a brand that resonates with 14 to 34 year-old males very strongly. And yet, in today's world, particularly in Europe, there's an anti-Americanism that sits higher than it's been for a long time, based on the war, the administration, George W. himself, and you worry about that.

Games have a key role to play in health and wellness. People will be able to do things with games in their own houses that they just can't do at the gym. And it's not just about making yourself stronger and healthier but also smarter and happier.

Games have the power to make people happy and to make the world a better place. And I do mean the world, because we are now opening up massive new markets like China and India that will bring billions of gamers.

He says on his official EA blog that the PC "presents some very serious business challenges to us in the sports category, particularly because so many of you all are playing your favorite sports games on the PS3, Xbox 360 and Wii." Moore goes on to say that Madden isn't the only PC effort being scrapped, but lines the whole thing with a bit of spun silver, writing that "We do have ideas for how to revitalize the PC for sports games and the types of games that are best suited to the platform, and we'll continue to explore those."

The news doesn't seem to be sitting well with PC-only Madden players, who suggest that EA Sports "EAT A ***" though we're not sure what that means. Another commenter asks "WFT Peter? NO PC??", suggesting that Peter "needs grow some balls instead of hair!" which certainly gives us a lot to think about.

Obviously, EA likes to make money and would take the cancellation of a key franchise on an extremely popular platform seriously. We just have to wonder how profitable it was becoming to continue support for Windows-only virtual footballers.

Madden 20th Anniversary and More! [EA]

I've seen speculation the past few days about the comments we've made recently about new IP coming this year from EA SPORTS. While we're still a couple of months away from any official new game announcements, I'm encouraged by the interest and excitement. As I've said many times over the past few months, as EA SPORTS looks to expand our brand and capture new audiences, developing new intellectual property - such as FaceBreaker and future unlicensed titles - will be a key component of that strategy. As an extension to those comments, and coming fresh out of our sku plan reviews of last week, I can tell you we now have EIGHT titles in development for the Wii, testament both to the global impact of that console currently in the global marketplace, as well as to our desire to attract more consumers to experience EA SPORTS games, no matter their experience playing games nor their prowess with a traditional controller.

Now, how many of those do you think are unannounced titles?

March 14th [Peter Moore's Blog, via GameTrailers]

We need to globalise, and we're taking many steps to broaden the reach and appeal of our product portfolio. FIFA obviously has global appeal, but this is about more than just selling additional copies of FIFA — this is about truly delivering a global product portfolio.

It's something we will examine from now, and there's nothing to announce at the moment.

The Wall Street Journal today examines Peter Moore's new role at Electronic Arts Sports, talking to the new division's new president about how he plans to reinvigorate EA Sports after its first drop in sales in at least seven years.

In it he talks about a lot of the usual things and mentions, in passing, that he plans to announce to analysts today the extension of the NFL contract that I talked with Moore about last night. Moore says the company also recently struck a deal with IMG Worldwide, the New York-based sports-management and entertainment company that represents a slew of top athletes, including Tiger Woods. EA hopes to use this to one day put the EA Sports brand on a "variety of consumer products and services, from soccer balls to tennis camps for kids" in the same way that ESPN now shows up on restaurants and a magazine.

Does that mean there could be an EA Sports Bar in our future?

The article ends with the revelation that Moore recently made a bet with Boston Red Sox pitcher, and fellow gamer, Curt Schilling. If Moore can kick a 50-yard field goal he gets to write Schilling's blog for a day. No word on what he has to do if he loses. Dreads?

EA Sports Aims to Punch Up Games [The Wall Street Journal]

Electronic Arts today announced that they've extended their exclusive agreement with the NFL and the Players Association for another three years, meaning the publisher has the only agreement in place with the league for creating licensed football games through the 2012/2013 season.

"We've just completed a period of renegotiations with the NFL for a three year extension of our current deal," Peter Moore said in an interview with Kotaku. He added that Electronic Arts plans to expand that license to include games beyond Madden, including, potentially, a fantasy football title.

Moore said had they not locked down the NFL license soon the publisher would have had to start making decisions about "redeploying" the team who would have been starting work on Madden 2010 in eight months or so.

Moore declined to comment directly on rumors that Electronic Arts has been in talks with the NBA to land a similar exclusive deal, but he did say it wasn't the way EA operates.

"The deal we had with the NFL it was instigated by the NFL, it wasn't EA going after them," he said. "The NFL tendered for the exclusive license and EA bid on the license."

This year marks the 20th Anniversary of Madden a franchise that Moore said has a "legacy of innovation" and one he says will continue to innovate.

I asked Moore if the Madden franchise might ever make the leap from retail distribution to digital, perhaps episodic distribution and he said not anytime soon.

"Sports has that opportunity... to have levels or different types of teams delivered digitally, but I think we are a long way away from that," he said. "The model we currently have, where we have the game on the disc and updates every few weeks and some micro-transactions works for us. We continue to look at that, but we're still away from truly episodic."

Moore said that EA is looking at making a bigger push in the fantasy football arena.

"We do have a fantasy product, but we haven't been able to break through with it," he said. "I think there is an opportunity to bring our 3D engine to fantasy in the future."

Moore said he also feels there is potential for Madden broadening its and football's reach in Europe, something that is one of NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell commitments for the year.

"It's never goint to challenge soccer (in Europe) let's be clear, but I think there's enough Americana in the game that there will be this fascination for people to watch it," he said. "A great number of consumers have been introduced to sports through video games. My son learned most of the games he plays now through games like Madden or World Series baseball."

There will be more announcements that will be, if you will, licensed intellectual property that will be looking at the more casual consumer that we see as a bigger force in the business...we think there's a different type of consumer that...doesn't want the authentic simulation game that we currently offer.

Moore: We must do better on Wii and DS [MCV]

"FaceBreaker reinvigorates one of the great genres in sports videogames. Arcade boxing takes me back to my roots in this industry, and this game signals our shift to adding more approachable fun to our product lineup. In no time at all, you'll be picking up the controllers and knocking your opponent around the ring, smashing faces, and having a riot."

REDISCOVER THE JOY OF PUMMELING WITH FACEBREAKER

An All-New Intellectual Property from EA SPORTS Brings Back Arcade Boxing
Chertset, UK - January 31, 2008 - Electronic Arts Inc. (Nasdaq: ERTS) announced today that FaceBreaker™ - an all-new intellectual property - is under development at EA Canada and will be released for the PLAYSTATION®3 computer entertainment system, Xbox 360™ video game system from Microsoft and the Wii™ in 2008.

"We're very excited to announce FaceBreaker, an all-new franchise from EA SPORTS that is fun, fresh and innovative," said Peter Moore, president, EA SPORTS. "FaceBreaker reinvigorates one of the great genres in sports videogames. Arcade boxing takes me back to my roots in this industry, and this game signals our shift to adding more approachable fun to our product lineup. In no time at all, you'll be picking up the controllers and knocking your opponent around the ring, smashing faces, and having a riot."

The renaissance of the arcade boxing genre is upon us. Created by the same team that developed the award-winning Fight Night Round 3, FaceBreaker offers irreverent fun, immersive gameplay and eye-popping stylized graphics. In this in-your-face, arcade world full of ego-wielding characters, each boxer comes to life with unique attributes and distinct personal style, including Romeo, a Latin lover known for his pelvic thrusts, and Molotov, an oversized Russian demolitions expert with a penchant for fighting dirty. Add a little personal motivation to your fight by uploading a photo of your face to create a realistic likeness using Photo Game Face, and go toe-to-toe with a real-life friend or foe.

Laugh out loud as you pummel your opponent with a barrage of blows to the face and watch in satisfaction as your progress is illustrated by real-time facial deformation. With haymakers, face shots and body blows, wait for the right moment to drop a super punch to make your presence known. Taunt your adversaries and flaunt your talent, by tying one hand behind your back to add ultimate humiliation to your bout. In FaceBreaker, it just feels good to rearrange your opponent's face.

EA SPORTS™ is the leading interactive sports software brand in the world, with top-selling titles and franchises including Madden NFL Football, FIFA Soccer, NHL® hockey, NBA LIVE basketball, NCAA® Football, Tiger Woods PGA TOUR® and NASCAR® racing.

###

Our games have become more and more complicated and complex, and we often get dogged for one of the biggest misconceptions in the entire industry - a lack of innovation year in and year out on annually iterated titles. I bristle at times when I hear this, because nothing could be farther from the truth.

What I've always admired about this place, and EA Sports in particular, has been the company's ability to consistently create compelling, broad-based interactive entertainment while riding the ups and downs of technology without ever stumbling.

To Moore's defense, it sounds a lot worse to say, "without ever stumbling except maybe once or twice." Also to Moore's defense, even with official NFL licenses, EA Sports can't add the excitement of dogfighting side bets to league play. But that's not for technological reasons, of course.

Meet the EA Label Presidents: Peter Moore [via mcvuk]

• Former Microsoft exec Peter Moore on Red Rings of Death:
"You know, things break."

• Nintendo president Satoru Iwata in May 2004:
"Customers do not want online games."

• SCEA boss Jack Tretton on post-launch PS3 availability:
"If you can find a PS3 anywhere in North America that's been on store shelves for more than five minutes, I'll give you 1,200 bucks for it."

• Nintendo's Perrin Kaplan on Wii owners running out of memory space:
"But if your refrigerator's full, you've got to pull something out and put something else back in. I mean, really, are you using everything thing there?"

• PlayStation Father Ken Kutaragi on the PS3's intial price tag:
"It's probably too cheap... We want consumers to think to themselves, 'I will work more hours to buy one.'"

Hey, at least most game execs are not boring!
Crazy Executive Quote Award [Game|Life] [Image]

HOMESTEAD, FL—New EA Sports President Peter Moore was at Miami Speedway over the weekend to hand out the $10,000 check to NASCAR Challenge winner Brandon Coppinger of Nashville, TN. Before heading to a meeting with the NASCAR drivers to talk videogames, Moore took some time for this exclusive Kotaku interview.

When asked how the unique NASCAR experience compared to his F1 racing, the Brit said that F1 had gotten boring for a while because Michael Schumacher seemed to win every race. Moore was recently in London, where he had the opportunity to meet the latest F1 sensation, Lewis Hamilton.

"Between Hamilton and the scandal involving the exchange of information between McLaren and Ferrari, F1 is getting more interesting," said Moore. "But. I'll tell you, there's nothing like a NASCAR race. This is my first NASCAR race in the flesh, although I follow the circuit."

This year's inaugural NASCAR Challenge, which was a partnership with Craftsman, is the key to expanding the sport and the game's sales moving forward, according to Moore.

"NASCAR has been a one nation sales opportunity, but we're working with our NASCAR partners on the ability to bring NASCAR, even here in North America, to places that normally don't get a chance to see races," said Moore. "We had 11 winners from retail tournaments for the NASCAR Challenge, but we also had five online winners, so utilizing the Internet is going to be the key to involve more people."

The NASCAR Challenge semi-finals and finals too place before the Ford 400 Championship race on pit row under a black tent surrounded by palm trees. Game Live's founder evidently loves palm trees, which did shade contestants from the 81 degree November Miami sun. CBS broadcaster Brent Musburger was on hand to provide commentary for the final race.

"You can see this is quite an undertaking and it's not something you can do every week, particularly with the lack of tracks the further west you get," said Moore. "The ability for us to bring the NASCAR experience virtually is going to be the key."

EA Sports, through its long-term partnership with ESPN, has turned "Madden Nation" into a hit series and televised the Madden Challenge. Last season, NBA Live also got its own TV show. Could a NASCAR Challenge program be far behind?

"I would hope so," said Moore. "We do phenomenal TV programming with ESPN around Madden, whether it's 'Madden Nation' or the Madden Bowl or the Madden Challenge. I see no reason why we can't get NASCAR on TV, particularly since driving is such an easy sport to translate to television. Madden is a little bit different because you have to look to figure out what's going on. Driving is different because it's easy to see who's leading and who's chasing. We now have ESPN integration in the new NASCAR game. I hope we can get together with ESPN and really bring this Challenge alive in a new way."

Next year's NASCAR 09 PlayStation 2 game is currently in development at EA's new Raleigh, NC studio. Moore said EA Sports is starting to develop a studio in Raleigh because it's part of the culture in North Carolina.

"It gets NASCAR out of Orlando (EA Tiburon) a little bit, where we're still dominated—whether we like it or not—by our Madden and Tiger Woods games," said Moore. "It allows the NASCAR franchise to stand on its own two feet as a game. The ability to bring the game not only to the next gen platforms, but also to the PSP, handhelds, and mobile are all ways that I think our Raleigh Studio will help expand this franchise in the future."

With the opening of EA's Raleigh Studio came the closing of EA Chicago, home of Fight Night and Def Jam.

"Our boxing franchise will move over to Vancouver," said Moore. "The Fight Night franchise is very important to us. We have 1,400 people over in Vancouver. This closure is the classic redeployment of resources."

Beyond the addition of NASCAR to the EA Sports Challenge Circuit, Moore said he believes an NHL Challenge will debut in the not-so-distant future. In addition, EA Sports is with Sony on a new iteration of the FIFA Interactive World Cup.

"In my previous life at Microsoft, I helped develop the FIFA Interactive World Cup," said Moore. "If you think NASCAR's a challenge, then try to imagine getting people together to play FIFA when you have soccer played in 180 countries. We distribute FIFA games in 42 countries. Online becomes critical. EA and Microsoft worked together a few years ago to establish the FIFA Interactive World Cup. Now with Sony's sponsorship of FIFA, we're going to be working with SCEA and SCE to be able to develop this competition and bring it one notch further. I think this could be the model of how you can bring this experience to someone in their own living room. As long as they're on some kind of a connected network using a console or even a PC I think we can deliver that on the couch moving forward."

When told that the first Madden Challenge winner was a die hard PlayStation 3 gamer, Moore said he loves all the platforms.

"As long as he's playing EA Sports that's fine by me," said the former Microsoft and Sega exec. "We have the 360 here primarily because of the great steering wheel. This is a multi-platform game. I think Xbox helped us enormously, especially with being able to deliver some of this equipment for the NASCAR Challenge, but that doesn't mean this thing is an Xbox 360 exclusive in any way."

Moore has no regrets about jumping ship from Microsoft and heading up EA Sports, but he does believe it's a small world.

"Back in my Sega days, I competed pretty aggressively against EA Sports the first time around against Riccitello when we were having a good time at Sega Sports," said Moore. "We developed 2K Sports when I was at Sega and interestingly, they've become a competitor of mine now. It's amazing what goes around, comes around. And more recently at Microsoft, we had a great time working with EA Sports. I've both competed with and collaborated with them. It feels real good to be back in the Bay Area."

There is a great opportunity to take EA Sports and turn it into a general sports brand that can compete not only with Take-Two and Konami and the other usual suspects in the videogame world...[but also] to look at ourselves in a different way and compete with the likes of Nike and ESPN to win the hearts and minds of a very desirable demographic group, which is the 14-to-34-year-old male worldwide.

...I think we have an opportunity to aggregate information and bring it to life with video technologies.

It sounds like Moore is fitting right in at his new job.

EA Sports' Moore Puts ESPN in Crosshairs [nextgeneration]

I'll be contacting the winners soon to score contact details, so hold tight, Photoshop maestros! A word of thanks to everyone who contributed. You're all the winningest bunch of losers I've ever known via e-mail. Kudos!

Talking to GameDaily.biz at E3, the soon to depart corporate VP of Microsoft's interactive entertainment biz said that critics "need to do their homework and look at some of the hardware product failures that this industry has seen in the past 30 years that maybe have not got as much publicity." He added that "if people say that previous consoles have all been perfect and not had failure rates, then they need to go get a history lesson."

Now, I majored in Computer Science in college, Peter, so my knowledge of console electronics history may be thinner than J Allard's hair, but what history has taught us is that the NES, Sega CD, PlayStation, Dreamcast and PlayStation 2 all had their share of well-reported issues. Hell, I even lost a GameCube to disc read errors, something that would probably have been more widespread if anyone had bothered to turn the thing on long enough.

That said, in my 25 years of following video games, I've personally never seen a hardware fiasco of such epic proportions.

I believe future history—when we ultimately know the real story behind the Xbox 360's manufacturing reliability woes—will tell a memorable story of poor design, shoddy manufacturing, lame excuses and tardy resolutions. It'll be a real page turner.

But, hey, I'm not Michael Pachter and I can't actually see the future with my third eye.

Moore: Critics of 360 Hardware 'Need a History Lesson' [GameDaily]

In case you missed it the first time, following the news of Pete's departure from Microsoft and arrival at EA Sports, we wanted to have a little send off. Prizes are, of course, awarded for the best, totally safe for work entry. There's no time to spare! Image manipulate your faces off and send them to the Kotaku contest inbox.

It's Peter Moore Photoshop Time [Kotaku]

The only thing after this week is that we've got to continue to accelerate and broaden our reach into the broader market...in terms of what our competitors are doing. I think Nintendo is doing a phenomenal job in providing that fun, unexpected experience, to their credit.

Honestly, I could care either way. Because people play Madden on every system under the sun. I'm leaving, suckers! BWAHAHAHAHAHA!

The Moore Interview [via gonintendo]

If you found our e-mail inbox cup had runneth over on day one of the contest, don't forget to resend you submission to the Kotaku Contest line. The when, how, what, why and where are in the original post.

It's Peter Moore Photoshop Time [Kotaku]

Keep in mind: 2chan posters should NOT be taken as a representation of all of Japan. There are something like 120 million people in Japan. They come in all shapes and sizes and do not, I repeat, do not all have the same opinion. What's more, some of the 2chan commenters are down right stupid. If only I could ban a big chunk of them! Still, their opinion is interesting and should shed some light on something — at least what some people over at 2chan think of the Xbox 360.

Hit the jump for comments. I didn't translate them all, and actually tried to stay away from the more moronic, flame baiting ones.

"MS doesn't have any 'sense.'"

"The Xbox 360 is expensive, big and noisy."

"Japan already has Nintendo and Sony. Don't need to buy the Xbox."

"The core audience is for foreigners in their thirties. In Japan, there are many female and children gamers. That's the reason."

"If there's an RPG that equals FF or DQ it should do well, right?"

"HD (lol)
do! do! do! (lol)"

"I don't even know what games it has. Weren't the TV commercials unsatisfying?"

"Foreigners are satisfied only with killing. Japanese are not that stupid."

"Japan is 'moe' and erotic games."

"Microsoft doesn't any original games for Japanese. Nintendo has Mario, etc. Sony has Hot Shots Golf. Microsoft????"

"Instead of saying the Xbox is bad, it's important to note that Sony and Nintendo are too established. There isn't much room for them to enter."

"It's because the advertising strategy of Microsoft Japan is dumb."

"Even though I want to buy an Xbox 360 more than the PS3, I am going to hold off until the console breakdowns decrease."

"Put out more demos."

"For me, it ended at do! do! do!" (do! do! do! was Microsoft's Japan TV campaign with pop group Tokio.)

"Overseas Ad
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PwoBxjchWUM
Japanese Ad
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2GKEsPzYFWA
That's not very good."

"Because it sounds as loud as a microwave oven?"

"Its image is Western games and boob volleyball. With that, how are you supposed to buy it?"

"Since the console is not region free, it's hard to think of the Xbox 360's true enjoyment. If your English is okay, it's actually pretty interesting."

"It stinks like the Sega Saturn stinks."

"I got it! Sell it packaged with Vista!!"

2chan Fills in Moore [Itai News, Thanks Witzbold!]

While it's going to be sad for me personally leaving, and I know a lot of people have already come up to me in the last few minutes and said, "You know, we're gonna miss you." I think it's important that they focus on the future. I'll be just fine. My family's going to be fine. But what's more important as we sit here in Redmond is that the business is going to be fine under the leadership of Don Mattrick.

Which is why I am starting an entirely inappropriate internet campaign: bring back J. When the Xbox originally launched, the then chubby exec was everywhere. Jallard got thinner, cooler and more eXtreme as the Xbox 360 launch drew near, and then POOF, he was gone — off to work on the Zune or something. Right now, he's probably holed up, working on Microsoft's answer to the iPhone. A waste! We don't want a Microsoft iPhone. We want J saying stuff about the Xbox 360, riding mountain bikes and being eXtreme. Sure, Allard might be a phony or whatever, but he's quotable and wears hoodies! Best of all, we've actually creeped him out. Think we'll be able to creep out Moore's replacement? Ha! J's the Prodigal Son, Microsoft, and it's about friggin' time he came home.

Sign below to show you're support for The Return of Jallard:

You'll find the master Peter Moore tattoo template below. Simply work your image manipulation magic, whether it be in Adobe Photoshop, GIMP, MS Paint (we're sure Pete would be proud) or the software package of your choice and wow us with your pixel pushing talents.

We've already removed the Halo 2 tattoo for you, but it's your job to find a suitable replacement for Bungie's Xbox hit. Hell, if you've got another template you want to work with, that's kosher. All we're looking for are hilarious, totally safe for work tattoo jobs.

The winner of this contest will get something smokin' hot. Send your images to kotakucontest@gmail.com by Friday, July 20th at 9 PM PDT and give it your best 'shop.

In addition to his base pay, Moore will also receive a signing bonus of $1.5 million if he remains with EA for two years. However, that bonus will be paid out within 30 days of his employment, to be repaid if Moore moves on from the company before his two year anniversary.

Moore will also receive a stock grant of 50,000 restricted shares, half of which vest at two years into his EA employment with the other half vesting at the four year mark. At the current after hours value of EA stock, his shares would value $4.26 million, a figure sure to change before 2009. He's also been given a stock option grant to purchase 350,000 shares as part of the company's Equity Incentive Plan.

On top of all that Moore moolah, the former Sega Dreamcast exec will be granted $330,000 in moving expenses. Looks like Peter can finally afford that laser tattoo removal!

Electronic Arts Form 8-K [SEC, via sonycowboy @ NeoGAF]